Gosha Rubchinskiy Discusses the End of His Brand & Infamous Kanye West Tattoo Design

Gosha Rubchinskiy kicked off Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi with a speech that touched on the end of his eponymous brand, the cycles of art, and that Kanye West tattoo design. The designer’s talk, which was given in Russian and translated by Vogue, followed a video recording of his Fall 2018 show in which his runway models introduced themselves.

Below are the best takeaways from Rubchinskiy’s speech for you to scroll through. For more, head to Voguehere.

On the end of his brand

“Every idea has a time and what I wanted to express, I expressed it. I believe that in the state that [Gosha Rubchinskiy] exists, it is a good condition to end this history and start a new one.”

On meeting Adrian Joffe, head of COMME des GARÇONS, for the first time

“It was a history of friendship. I met Adrian Joffe, the husband of Rei Kawakubo and the head of Comme des Garçons, at a dinner of friends. I absolutely did not know who he was. He asked me what I did and I said I was trying to make clothes, ‘trying’ because it isn’t so easy to make clothes in Russia. He said, ‘I am also connected with fashion and that it would be interesting to see what sort of collection you are doing. Let’s meet tomorrow and you will show me something.’ We met the next day and I showed him video and photographs of what we did, and he said, ‘We have a store in London and we can try to sell your things in our store.’ I thought, Let’s try to sew some more. We sent the clothes from Moscow to London through Serbia. Then, when the collection reached London, it sold within a week. The money that we made went to logistics. So, when Adrian asked me the question if there were more clothes to sell, I said, unfortunately not, and there wouldn’t be any more, since I’m not interested. So, we thought [about] what to do. And Adrian decided to work together and we would try to sew the collection ourselves to try and see what would happen. And with little steps, here we are now.”

On streetwear uniting this generation’s youth

“We live in such a time when politics is everything we hear and see in the news, and it has the goal to separate a whole country and people from each other. So, artists must try to find a way to connect people across the world. At one time, everyone was united by rock music or film, and then hip-hop music, and now it is fashion for the youth: street fashion. I think that young people are pulled toward clothes. At one time, 20 years ago, they stood in lines at music stores, waiting for a new release of songs of their favorite group, and now they are waiting for a new release of sneakers or a new collection of their favorite brand. People have a longing for a need to stand in line and meet one another and the occasion for that today is clothing. I think that this situation may be used to unite people.”

On his next projects

“We are opening a skate shop in Moscow. It will be a type of place where kids can buy a skateboard, gather, and talk with one another.”

On Kanye West’s tattoo design

“It was drawn by Valentin [Fufaev]. I think it is better to ask Kanye West.”

And finally some advice for young designers

“You need to find within yourself what you want to say to people and that’s not just in creating clothing or design but in principle. If you want to do something, you need to understand what you want to say because when it comes down to it, people buy not clothes but a history. You can buy a white shirt anywhere. If you want to create your own brand, you need to understand what it’s about. What kind of song do you want to sing? Of course, if this song is talented and is attractive, people will love it and will sing with you.”

What do you think the advice Gosha Rubchinskiy shared for young creatives? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

In other news, Kanye West has just teased the YEEZY Boost 700 V2. See more here.

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